FIELD NOTE #049 — The Workaround Became the Product

Engineering the Intelligent Enterprise · Sep 26, 2026 · 27m

Some of the most permanent things in an organisation begin as temporary decisions.

A deadline creates pressure, pressure creates a workaround, the workaround works, the deadline passes, and the workaround remains.

Then it acquires the things permanent systems tend to acquire:

a name

an owner

a budget

a roadmap

That transition is the subject of this episode.

Workaround Gravity is the name for the tendency of a solution created under pressure to accumulate enough use, legitimacy, and investment that it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish from deliberate design.

The interesting part is…